Dual supplementing headlight



Get. 23, 1923. 1,471,679

l L. BELL DUAL SUPPLEMENTING HEADLIGHT ljljed Feb. 13 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet l -EEI- K771621201 Z 01/255 ell same on. as. teas. V I

filth earns more am, or wmr dll hld' NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB T EDWARD F27. GQDWG; TRUSTEE, OE NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DUAL SUPPLWWTING WEIGHT.

Application filed February 13, 1920. Serial Eo. 359%,533.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Louis BELL, a citizen l0 and particularly to the projection of a combined road illuminating beam from a motor vehicle or the like.

In this art inuchefiort has been made to efiect suitable distribution of light over the intercept of the beam of the roadway and at the same time to guard against ofiense in the upper portion of the beam to the eyes of pedestrians or approaching motorists."

fOne'of the requirements developed in this effort to secure suitable illumination has been lateral illumination adjacent the car and to the right thereof to guard against the rather frequent sudden appearance of a pedestrian from curb or other unexpected $5 place not sufliciently illuminated by the ordinary light.

The object of my present invention is to cover all these several. requirements and at the same time to increase the distance of illumination and the/degree of-illumination in that portion of the beam which constitutes the driving light. This has been inriously attempted from difierent portions of the beam of each li ht. 3 In accordance wit my inventionl produce from the two conventional headlights of a vehicle by giving to each of them difierent optical characteristics, a. combined beam of such unsymmetrical character as is desirable for the practical lighting of the roadway.

As illustrative of my invention 1 have shown certain forms of'intercept as well as lens system for producing and combining such beams. This form I will discuss in the specification which follows, pointing out the adaptability of the features of it in the varying problems of road illumination. Throughout the specification and drawings like reference numerals are correspondingly employed, and in the drawings:

Fig. I is a diagrammatic view illustrating projection of the beam fiom a mir of un-..

modified headlights of normal construction.

Fig. H illustrates in corresponding dis gram a combined beam in accordance with my invention.

Figs. 1H and IV illustrate modified bms of similar character otherwise disposed.

Fig. ,V is a somewhat diagrammatic illustration of a pair of lenses shown in section with the beam distribution indicated.

Figs. VI and VII show a vertical section of the lefthand and right hand lenses, respectivel of such Fig. III is a di niinatic view showing a pair of conventional projectors in section.

'In explanation of the draw, 'ngs it ma be said that in Fig. I the intersecting cii cles r, I indicate the projection of a pair of beams from a pair of ordinary automobile headlights unmodified. They consist, as will M seen, of two substantially circular and overlapping discs of equal intensity and of the :same size. As before explained, it is the .ob ect of my invention to provide a combined beam in which distribution and in tensity is varied.

Forthe purposes of the present application the lamps are referred to as right hand and. left hand lamps, it being understood that this reference is made pursuant to the law of the road in this country which provides for keep' to the right.

In Fig. l have illustrated such a com- "bined beam in which 1' is the right hand portion of the projection, and l the left hand portion lhis beam and other similar related beams may be projected fiom the incandescent bulbs I) of a air of projectors P, Fig. VIII, having rig is and sit hand lenses R, L, respectively of the'type, shown in my prior Patent No. 1,277,364,}11

L is of vertical cylindricity, while the rear surface L is of horizontal 1 cylindrici The same is true of the surface R and 2 of the right hand In constructing this lens air, however, the radius of the suriace is greater than the radius-of the wrface R of the right hand lens, while the radius of the surface L of the lam hand lens mayi he dewhich I employ cylindrical front and rear sur -faoes of crossd axes. The front surface somewhat difierent combined .Wers. Y

As shown in Fig. H, theleft hand and the right hand lens give some degree of depression, the former much less dispersion the right hand beam is skive than the latter.

In this way, instead of the combined beam being symmetrically disposed about the vertical median plane M, M in the central axis of the system, the left hand lens L, looking in the direction of the beam, will produce a downwardly refracted beam with comparatively slight spread and relatively high intensity as appears at Z. The right hand lens R with greater lateral spread, while overlapping the first and adding somewhat to its intensity at 0 will serve to spread the beam widely over the right hand side of the roadway. a

The ri ht hand lens may be slightly toed out in a dition to giving somewhat less deflection and greater lateral dispersion, so that its beam will only slightly overlap that of the left hand lens as shown in Fig. III, but extend considerably to the right with both greater dispersion and less depression than the left hand beam so as not only to give more light laterally, but also above and below the horizontal axis C, C of the lamp than would be desirable or permissible on the left hand side.

Such a combination gives instead of a combined beam of somewhat elliptical section, a beam approximately apioidal as in dicated in dotted lines a, Fi III, with the wider toward the right and t e apex toward the left according to the different ratios of depression and dispersion in the two lenses.

The left hand lens may itself be slightly toed out so that the combined pair will give less light above the horizontal plane through the lamps in the center while preserving a comparatively condensed driving beam just to the left of the center overlapped by the more spreading illumination toward the right. Of course in regions where drivers turn to the'left the arrangement of the lens would be reversed.

In Fig. IV, I have illustrated a further modification in which the left hand beam i is held substantially as in Figs. II and III,

to give it an of the combined beam has to be held low and yet a higher lateral illumination isdesired off to the right.

With the lenses herein shown as illustrative it is only necessary to incline the axis of the front cylindrical oncavity R slightly to the left or out of its right angled relation to the axis of B.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A pair of headlights each comprising a projector and each having a refractive screen spaced apart in the same plane, the screen of the left hand light having means to project a beam of substantially oval cross section and horizontal major axis and slight axial displacement, and the screen of the right hand headlight having means to project a beam of substantially oval cross section and horizontal major axis of greater length than that of the left hand headlight and overlapping the medial axis of said pair of screens, the upper end of the vertical axis of the left hand beam being substantially at the level of the lamp.

2. A pair of headlights each comprising a projector having a substantially parabolic reflector and each having a refractive screen, said headlights being spaced apart in the same plane, the screen of one headlight having means to project a beam of substantial oval cross section and substantialy horizontal major axis and slight downward displacement from the parabolic axis and the screen of the other headlight having means to project a beam of substantial oval cross section and of horizontal major axis of greater length than the other headlight and of less displacement with reference to its parabolic axis.

In testimony whereof'I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS BELL. Witnesses:

Es'rrmn A. PRENTISS, MARION F. Wmss. 

